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20 Facts About The 'Ocean's 8' Girl Squad

Ocean’s 8 is in cinemas now and after six months worth of hype, the all-female spinoff of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 sequels is receiving mixed reviews. Some love it; others think it doesn’t live up to its hype. What do we think? Well, we went to watch it at the cinema a day after its release and, by the zero trace of male species in the room, let’s first clarify that this is a woman’s movie. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be that way, but it is. At least, it appeals more to women by the looks of it. As for the movie as a whole, we enjoyed it. Slow at the beginning, but when the Ocean’s 8 girl-gang all came together to pull off the diamond heist, things got exciting.

All in all, the movie is funny, fashionable, and sophisticated. And let’s not forget that amazing cast of A-lister females: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter and Awkwafina. As huge as these stars are and as familiar as they are to us, we actually know little about them in real life. Let’s take a look at 20 facts we never knew about the Ocean’s 8 women.

20 That German accent of Sandra Bullock’s was no phony

Let’s start with the ringleader of it all: Sandra Bullock AKA Debbie Ocean in the movie. Impressed with her German communication skills at the Met Gala? We’re sure everyone was blown away by her passing exchange with Heidi Klum in Deutsch. That’s because, in real life, Sandra Bullock speaks fluent German. Her late mother, Helga Bullock, who was an opera singer and voice coach was German, born in Nuremberg. Sandra Bullock actually holds both American and German citizenship. So if anyone thought that German accent was phony, they were wrong. It was all real. Then again, it did sound convincing.

19 Helena Bonham Carter is a distant cousin of Kate Middleton

We’ve seen Helena Bonham Carter in a plethora of magical movies. That’s because, usually, she plays those eccentric kinds of characters. Who could play them better anyway? From her role as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland to playing Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter, Carter hasn’t been short of getting fantastical roles and she nails them every single time. Anyway, success must run in the blood because, apparently, Carter is a distant cousin of Kate Middleton. While we can’t see the obvious comparisons between the two, it’s clear that the two are both very famous. Plus, they both have dark hair.

18 Cate Blanchett owes her success to Tim Tams

Every star starts from somewhere. They don’t instantly become famous actors out of nowhere. For Cate Blanchett, it started in a 1990s commercial for the Australian cookie Tim Tams.

In the commercial, Blanchett plays a woman who receives three wishes after releasing a genie from a lamp.

Seeing as it is a cookie commercial, Blanchett has only one wish: an endless supply of Tim Tams. Anyway, that’s where her career started. Since then, we’ve seen Cate Blanchett in a number of Oscar-winning roles. She is a household name for most of us. You’ll love her character, Lu, in Ocean’s 8!

17 Anne Hathaway wanted to be a nun

But her first dream was still to become an actress. ''When I was younger, I thought about becoming a nun for a while,'' she said. ''You know how it is when you’re growing up and you’re going to be a lot of different things, but I actually wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a nun. The nun was more of a sidebar thing.'' Everyone has a dream, but this was a dream we weren’t expecting to hear from Hathaway. Saying that, we don’t doubt she would have made an amazing nun. But we’re also happy she chose her first choice.

16 Awkwafina wrote a travel book

If you didn’t already know or you’re not familiar with Awkwafina, she is a singer. She released her first album, Yellow Ranger, back in 2014. But apart from singing and making music, it seems Awkwafina also enjoys writing. Not long ago, she wrote a travel book called Awkwafina’s NYC, which basically educated travellers on everything to do with New York City.

It’s a pretty smart idea when you think about it.

We’re just curious, do you think she added a few pickpocketing tricks in the book, like her character in Ocean’s 8? Somehow, we have a strong feeling the answer is no.

15 Sarah Paulson probably won’t ever see Ocean’s 8

If you starred in a big movie like this one, you would want to see yourself in it, surely? Not Sarah Paulson. That’s because she won’t watch anything she stars in anymore. ''It started with Marcia, it started with the O.J. thing,'' she explained. ''It was the first time in my career where I really felt such an onslaught of complimentary, effusive reactions to the show itself and to my work on it, that I started to get very nervous about my typical way of watching something and ripping it to shreds when it’s my own work.'' Makes sense…in a way.

14 Rihanna’s sported over 15 hairstyles since her career began

Her career might have begun in 2005, but that’s still a lot of hairstyles to carry off. If you’ve watched the movie, you’ll notice she has a different style in that too. Then again, this is the queen of style we’re talking about here.

Rihanna manages to pull off everything, even the most eccentric styles.

That is why so many young women look up to her. They love her no-rules philosophy on style. Just in case you’ve forgot, Rihanna’s trademark styles have been the long straight brown which she sported in 2006, the black bob in 2007 and the cropped look in 2008.

13 Mindy Kaling wasn’t always so popular

It’s hard to believe that a woman like Mindy Kaling, who’s so beautiful and funny and self-assured could ever have been unpopular. The fact that she was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2012 backs up our curiosity. She was also named Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year three years later. Yet, for some reason, Mindy Kaling wasn’t always so popular. During her childhood, Kaling gave out Skittles to her classmates to try and win their attention. Her memoir shines a light on the struggles she faced as a child. Clearly, she’s not unpopular anymore.

Nearly every celebrity we’ve ever read about had an alternative career goal if their dreams of becoming an actress or singer didn't pan out. For Anne Hathaway, it was becoming a nun. For Sandra Bullock, on the hand, it would be as a romantic novelist. We weren’t expecting that!

Then again, it does make sense.

She does, after all, star in a number of rom-coms, so naturally, she’s drawn to that genre. As much as we love Bullock as an actress, we’d love to read some of her stuff. It’s not too late. There’s still time for her to write a novel.

11 Helena Bonham Carter has her own fashion line

In the movie, she plays Rose Wein, a former fashion stylist, who ends up styling Anne Hathaway’s character in the film. In real life, Helena Bonham Carter has her own fashion line called The Pantaloonies which she launched in 2006 with a friend. In typical unique Carter style, there’s a special way of ordering clothing from the company. You have to return a questionnaire about your favourite films and a pair of jeans you’d like to have customized in order to buy clothing. In return, you will get a customization of your jeans based on the answers you gave in the questionnaire.

10 Cate Blanchett has won two Oscars

Without a doubt, Cate Blanchett is one of the most recognized actresses in Hollywood. No wonder she’s won two Oscars.

She has also broken a number of Academy Award records.

In fact, Blanchett is the first actress in history to be nominated for the same role. She was nominated for playing Elizabeth I in both Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. She was also the first person to win an Oscar for playing another Oscar winner, as she did playing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator. Her role-playing Bob Dylan’s alter ego in I’m Not There also earned her notable distinction.

9 Anne Hathaway turned down the starring role in 'Knocked Up'

We hear quite often about big stars turning down big roles. When you’re as famous as they are, you can afford to be picky with the film roles. Anne Hathaway revealed that she turned down the starring role in the movie Knocked Up. Apparently, it had something to do with the graphic birthing scene. ''My issue with it was that having not experienced motherhood myself, I didn’t know how I was [going to] feel on the other side about giving birth,'' she said. ''I could pop a kid out and think, Oh, well, I really should have done that movie.'' The role ended up going to Katherine Heigl.

8 You’ve seen Awkwafina on-screen before

Many people are just becoming familiar with Akwafina, but actually, you’ve probably already seen her on-screen before. Does MTV’s Girl Code ring any bells? Well, Awkwafina appeared in six episodes of that show back in 2014. A year later, she was a co-host with comedian Carly Aquilino and TV personality Nessa for Girl Code Live.

She's been in a lot actually.

She was also profiled in a documentary called Bad Rap in 2016. And she’ll also be starring in another movie this year called Crazy Rich Asians. So if you weren’t so familiar with Awkwafina before, you will be by the time this year’s finished that’s for sure.

7 Sarah Paulson has a huge fear of flying

Most people have a fear of some kind. For some people it’s spiders, for others it’s heights. For Sarah Paulson, it’s flying. In Ocean’s 8, she seems to be totally fearless when it comes to stealing those diamonds. In fact, Paulson will even meet with the pilot prior to flying so she feels comfortable. ''I will not fly unless they let me into the cockpit to have a little word with them before we go,'' the actress said. But she admits she gets a lot of jokes from the pilots while she is flying because they’re aware of her fear.

6 Rihanna’s real name is Robyn

She had us confused as to what exactly her name was in Ocean’s 8: Eight Ball or Nine Ball. In real life, though, Rihanna’s real name isn’t even Rihanna. It’s Robyn. Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

It’s a part of her name of course but not her first name.

''When people call me Robyn, my head just flies around because I feel like that person knows me. But Rihanna, that tends to be people's own [creation]. Robyn is who I am. Rihanna - that's an idea of who I am.'' It’s hard to see Rihanna as a Robyn, isn’t it? Even Nine Ball sounds more convincing.

5 Mindy’s name was taken from a certain show

On the subject of names, we thought we’d let you into a little secret that Mindy Kaling’s name was taken from the TV show, Mork & Mindy. When her mother was pregnant with her in Nigeria, the only American show they could get on at the time was that one. However, Mindy is actually her middle name. Her full name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam. When she told the story to Robin Williams (the star of Mork & Mindy), he didn’t believe her. It’s always funny to hear how names came about, especially a story like this one. Now for the next fact.

4 Anne Hathaway replaced Jennifer Lawrence in this movie

Did you know that Jennifer Lawrence was set to play Hathaway’s role in Ocean’s 8? Now we’ve seen Hathaway nail the role, it’s hard to imagine Lawrence playing Daphne. That’s not to say she wouldn’t do it well – of course, she would, this is Jennifer Lawrence we’re talking about after all.

But Anne Hathaway was clearly made for this role and carried it off excellently.

You probably also never knew that Jennifer Lawrence replaced Hathaway in Silver Linings Playbook. It ended up working out both ways for these two actresses, but it seems as though it worked out for the best.

3 Sandra Bullock has met Danny Ocean before

Okay, so not the real Danny Ocean (whoever he is), but the actor who plays him in Ocean’s 11: George Clooney. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney starred together in the movie Gravity. You probably watched it. Just in case you forgot, it came out in 2013. Many people were wondering whether Danny Ocean (George Clooney) would return in Ocean’s. In fact, even we thought it could have been possible at the end of the movie. We were almost expecting it. As it is, he didn’t return, unfortunately. Although, wouldn’t it be cool if they did a joint Oceans’ movie with both women and men pulling off the heist?

2 Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson both starred in Carol (2015)

A few of the cast members of Ocean’s 8 have already starred together in movies before. Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson, for example, were both in Carol. Cate Blanchett also starred in Cinderella (2015) with Helena Bonham Carter, but they did not share screen time together.

Big stars find big movies.

Anne Hathaway also starred in a movie (make that two) with Helena Bonham Carter before: Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016) and in Les Miserables (2012). What can you expect when you have all these amazing actresses? They end up in great films with other great actresses. We guess it’s only natural that they’re going to bump into each other.

1 All the actresses nail their roles in Ocean’s 8

Ocean’s 8 may have some mixed reviews, but there’s no denying all eight main female characters nailed their roles in the movie. Each one of them played their parts exceptionally. In fact, we can’t imagine anyone else playing their parts better. So, it’s down to form your own opinion of the movie but in our opinion, it is definitely worth a look. In spite of the storyline and plot being interesting, it really is the eight female leads that make this movie sparkle. Those diamonds have nothing on the shine this girl gang brings to the screen. Expect nothing less than a perfect performance from these eight women.